


A Better Man Than Me

by ScruffyPalace



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M, Pregnancy, Secret Child, Single Father, Teen Father, Teen Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28715682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScruffyPalace/pseuds/ScruffyPalace
Summary: Jess is struggling to get by, living in an apartment with three other guys, making minimum wage, and trying to make something of himself, even though no one thinks he can. Then one day Rory stops by his apartment in tears and leaves him with their day-old-son, saying she knows he'll do the right thing, but he doesn't know what the right thing is.
Kudos: 9





	A Better Man Than Me

The car seat pulled at her weak body like a stone, though the infant inside was barely six pounds. She stumbled down the wide, paint-chipped hall, the cheap lights dimly lighting her path. One, two, three, four. She was only three apartments away, but every step felt like a marathon. After having literally carried around a secret for nine months, pushing it out of her the day prior, her body wanted nothing more than a full week of sleep. A slight whimper erupted from the car seat, reminding her if she ever wanted to relax, she'd have to get through this.

Five…six…finally she reached the door with the golden seven that looked as though it was meant to be fancy but was actually purchased at the dollar store. She lifted her fist and held it out, but she couldn't bring herself to knock. She'd almost turned around when the taxi driver dropped her off, and again when she walked in the building and caught a faint musty smell mixed with old burritos that made her stomach churn.

Maybe she was making the wrong decision. Maybe she should've turned around and taken the baby back to the hospital. He left her, not the other way around. If she'd given the baby up, he wouldn't have a right to be mad.

She looked down at her baby, saw the deep brown eyes and the hand that reached up to his crooked mouth and she knew. She knew that after everything he'd put her through, he had a right to make the decision for himself. She wasn't going to let his opinion deter her's, but even after all he'd done, she knew he was a good person and would make the best choice for their son.

She took a deep breath, before tapping her knuckles lightly against the door. Not two seconds later a bleached blond guy with dark brown eyes brows, a pair of board shorts, and no shirt, came to the door, a smirk tattooed on his face.

"Sup babe," he said, his front teeth pressed against his bottom lip. Rory squinted.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought this was, I'm sorry, I'm looking for Jess." She peaked her head around Blond boy's shoulders, but all she saw was a few mattresses scattered on the floor and a small kitchen area covered in chips and unnameable meats.

He shot finger guns at her. "Oh, you mean old Marinara."

"Mariano?" He rolled his eyes.

"Duh. He went out for some grub a while ago. He should be back any minute." He wiped his nose with his bare arm, the coughed a few times. "I can keep you company till he gets back."

Rory was minutes away from buckling at the knees and passing out from exhaustion, but the thought of spending any time with this guy was even less appealing.

"Oh, no thanks. I'm gonna just-"

"Woah," the guy said as he noticed the car seat. "Is this little Mariachi's?"

"Maria-you know what? Nevermind. I shouldn't have come."

Rory started backing up, when someone down the hall said, "Rory?"

Rory was both relieved and terrified. She was thankful to not be alone with stoner boy anymore, but the thought of responding made her heart pound so hard it affected herbreathing.

"Rory," Jess said with confused excitement in his voice as he jogged over. "What are you doing here?"

She'd gone over multiple versions of what she was going to say next, but before she could take a breath, the stoner boy said, "She brought you a present." Jess's eyes followed his roommate's finger to the car seat she was holding. He furrowed his brow.

"Rory?" he asked. He didn't know why she'd be bringing him an infant car seat until he looked her in the eyes and it clicked. Her eyes were swollen from crying and her cheeks were red from wiping all the tears away. Her tooth caught her bottom lip, making her look even younger than she was, and she was only eighteen. They were only eighteen, but she was going to get out of the small-town life and make something of herself. At least, before-

"Rory, what's going on?" He was pretty sure he knew, but he needed to hear it from her.

His roommate rolled his eyes. "Isn't it obvious dude? You're a daddy, Woah." He threw his arms in the air and laughed.

"Darren, I swear if you don't get out of my face in three seconds, I-" Jess started but was cut off by Darren backing away and closing the door.

They stood in silence for a few moments, Jess fiddling with his fingers as Rory moved the car seat from one hand to the other. The baby was now facing Jess, his wide eyes staring at his father.

"Rory, I-"

"Jess-"

They both stopped until he waves his hand. "After you."

"Right. I ah, I had a baby?" the sentence sounded simple. Too simple for someone of Rory's standards, but she wasn't in poetic Rory mode. She never thought she'd be in this situation.

Jess pointed to his chest. "Mine?"

Rory pursed her lips and nodded. "Yeah."

Jess closed his eyes and bit his tongue. He'd done it. The one thing everyone said he'd do. Screw up Rory Gilmore's future. He couldn't keep his hands off of her, couldn't keep it in his pants, and now she was a teen mom. Shit. And with him for a baby daddy. She picked a real winner, huh.

He opened his eyes and tried to form a sentence, but his tongue was tied, pulled down by the weight of his actions. He rubbed his face then shook his head. "Why? How? I mean, why now?" He mentally punched himself. Why now? That was the best he could do?

"Oh um, because, because I wanted to give you a choice, but I didn't want to leave you time to talk me out of mine." Okay, that didn't make any sense. Jess tapped his finger against the side of his thigh, doing anything he can to keep his eyes off the baby, his baby.

He waved his hand and swallowed. "What?"

She took a slow, gentle step towards him and when she was sure he wouldn't back away, she took a few more until she was only a foot away from him. She leaned over, holding out the handle to the car seat.

"Here."

He took the carrier, but he still couldn't figure out what she was doing. She passed him her leather laptop bag, which he took and threw over his shoulder.

"I put his papers all in there, along with a few diapers and some formula a nurse had given me at the hospital. I signed all my rights away, so just take him and do what's right."

Suddenly, everything Rory was doing made sense, which made Jess even more confused. Rory tried to walk past him, but he used his free hand to gently grab her arm.

"What the hell?" he asked. "What are you doing? Have you thought this through? What does your mom think-"

Rory stared at the floor. "My mom doesn't think anything, because she doesn't know. She thinks I've been away at Yale all summer, some early acceptance thing. No one knows and that's how it has to be."

Jess shook his head. "Rory, you and your mom are the closest people I've ever seen. You should talk to her about this. Why don't you come inside and we can-"

Rory ripped her arm away. "No," she cried, "My mom cannot find out about this. Do you know how disappointed she would be? Her perfect daughter getting knocked up her senior year of high school?"

"Come on, you know she of all people would understand."

Rory rubbed her arm. "Of course she would, but then she'd expect me to stay home, raise the baby, go to community college. Or she'd try to convince me I could have it all and send me to Yale with an infant. Teen mothers don't graduate from Yale, Jess."

"Rory, you don't have to do this. We can work this out. I'll-I'll take care of him while you're in class, I'll get a job working nights to pay for things. I don't know I just, please don't walk away."

Rory smiled a sad, pained smile. She leaned down and gave her son one last kiss on the forehead. "I love you, baby."

She backed away, tears streaming down her full, burning red cheeks. "I know you'll do the right thing, Jess."

"Rory, I don't-please don't do this."

She wiped her tears and waved before turning around and walking out the door.


End file.
